tv Alex Wagner Tonight MSNBC September 13, 2024 1:00am-2:00am PDT
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of life. we live in an era in which the world's most powerful forces are trying to take it from us in every last instance. the book will be released in january next year. it is now available for preorder . you can read about it and preorder it at this website. or by scanning the qr code on your screen. i will be doing a special event with a brilliant writer i admire. the event will only be available for folks who preorder in the u.s. it will be a great conversation and i would love for you to join. because i work in the attention business, you will hear more about this book in the months to come. to come. listen, i'm writing a book, too. >> i know you are. >> i'm not done with my book and
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pre selling qr codes with the pre order thing and your book is going on in every airport like bookstore on the >> i hope. >> it's>> so awesome. i know i'm going to read it and feel so defeated. >> no. you've got it. run through the tape. i'm cheering you on in whatever mile you are on. >> itha sounds amazing and so brilliant, i can't wait to hear t congratulations, my friend, in advance. i'm pre ordering. >> thank you. thank you for joining me this evening and happy election day to all who celebrate. i know, november 5th is still 54 days away, but today voters started casting the first ballots of the 2024 election. yesterday absentee ballots went out in the state of alabama and today we are seeing local news reports that people are already turning those ballots in. so we are off to the races, people. next week wisconsin starts mailing out its absentee ballots and pennsylvania, minnesota,
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south dakota and virginia all start in-person early voting. slowlyrl but surely the rest of the states will follow and what that means for this race is that the window to change voters' minds is closing. today donald trump announced that he will not have a second debate with vice president kamala harris. >> as everyone saw two nights ago, we had monumental victory over comrade kamala harris in the presidential debate. >> harris, though, said that she and trump owe it to the voters to have another debate. now, trump is explaining why he doesn't want another debate by saying when a prize fighter loses a fight the first words out of his mouth are, i want a rematch, and trump claims that polls clearly show that i won the debate. for the record, though, one national post debate poll we have tells a very different
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story. a according toff morning consult before the debate harris was leading nationally within 3 points within the margin of error, on the sedate of the debate it widened to four points, after the debate it widened to five points.to but yes, donald trump says he doesn't need another debate because of hown' clearly he won the first and second ones. >> because we've done two debates and because they were successful there will be no third debate. it's too late anyway, the voting has already begun. >> on at least one of those points trump is oright, the voting has already begun and it is about to begin in some of the states that are going to decide thear election, like pennsylvan, which , again, starts its early voting next week. so without any more debates on the horizon the question for the harris campaign is how do you
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reach those voters before, as trump put it, it's too late? well, one way is through ads. today the harris campaign announced in the 24 hours after the debate harris had her best fundraising day since the launch of her campaign. the campaign says it raised $47 million in 24 hours. and that could help bolster the $370 million the harris campaign has already committed in tv and digital ad buys that are going to be running from labor day to election day, and those ads will keep the memory of harris' victory on the debate stage very much alive. the harris campaign today announced it is going to release ain series of ads highlighting footage from that debate to get harris' performance in front of as many voters as possible. here is thete latest one of tho ads which the campaign released a few hoursca ago. >> i want to turn to the issue of abortion. >> for 52 years they've been
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trying to get roe v. wade into the states. it took courage to do it and the supreme court had great courage in doing it. >> i have talked with women around our country. you want to talk about this is what people wanted? pregnant women who want to carry a w pregnancy to term, sufferin from a miscarriage, being denied care in an emergency room because the health care providers areth afraid they mig go to jail and she's bleeding out in a car in the parking lot. she didn't want that. her husband didn't want that. a 12 or 13-year-old survivor of incest, being forced to carry a pregnancy to term, they don't want that. >> i think the american people believe thatri certain freedomsn particular the freedom to make decisions about one's own body should not be made by the government. i'm kamala harris and i approved thisri message. >> beyond the ads the harris campaign is planning to meet
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swing state voters by doubling down on retail politics. today harris' running mate tim walz was in michigan, second gentleman doug emhoff did events in both nevada and arizona and vice president harris herself had two rallies in north carolina. and i know you might be thinking north carolina? democratse have not won north carolina in a presidential election since barack obama in 2008 and they hadn't won it before then08 since jimmy carte in 1976, but the harris campaign is making a big bet that north carolina is in play this year. according to quinnipiac polling this week harris is leading trump in north carolina by three points, that is within the margin of error, but still, three points, north carolina. an official with the harris campaign told nbc news that the harris campaign has set up 26 field offices across north carolina and that since harris became the nominee more than 20,000 north carolinians have signed up to volunteer for the
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campaign. so, tagain, i know we are 54 ds out from november 5th, but the first ballots of the 2024 election were cast today. this is a marathon, but it is also a sprint. >> it's time to turn the page. turn the page. turn the page. we are ready for a new generation of leadership that is optimistic, optimistic about what we can do for our country together. i will always put country above party from the courthouse to the white house, i have always fought for the people. always fought for the people. north carolina, we have 54 days until election day.
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54 days. and54 with your help we will wi. we will win. >> joining me now is michael tyler, the communications director for the harris/walz campaign. michael, thank you for joining me, i know it is very busy and i appreciate your time in advance. let me first just ask about the second debate for donald trump with vice presidentat harris, wt donald trump is calling the third debate. are you surprised that it's a firm no from the trump campaign given the fact that trump himself acknowledges that the loser often wants a rematch and do you think it is as firm no? >> well, listen, thank you so much for having me this evening. i'm not quite certain that it's a firm no. listen, i mean, donald trump also said for the first debate with the vice president that he was happy with unmuted microphones but his team overruled him. we will see if that happens again. the vice president has made her position clear, she thinks that the american people deserve to see once again what they saw on the debateey stage on tuesday
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night, right,ta which is a very clear choiceh in this election. and so whether or not that happens,he whether trump ultimately agrees to do so, we're going toma make sure as y were discussing that from now untilis the election we bring tt same split screen to the voters where they are,he on the ground and on the airwaves. we're going to make sure every day between now and november 5th they understand the very clear choice in in election between the vice president who is fighting for them, who is going to stand upceng to provide for economy where people have the opportunity to actually get ahead instead of just get by, she's going to contrast that with donald s trump's disastrou economic policy. on the issue of abortion she's going to make sure they understand that donald trump is the one responsible for the horror playingon out in dozens states with trump abortion bans across this country and she is the leader who can get us out of this mess and restore roe. she's going to make sure on every single issue the american peopleue fundamentally understa the choice in this election. >> i wantch to go back to a lotf
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that but just because you opened this door to this maybe not being a firm no on the second debate for trump, are you still negotiating with the trump campaign onti a second debate o have those negotiations ended? >> we're open to having conversations about a second debate in october. we think that the american be see that.ve to we had a very clear choice on the stage on tuesday night and we think that if donald trump is willing to do so that they should have another opportunity to doo that. we are entertaining offers, we are having those conversations. we very much look forward to debating donald trump again in the month of october. we think that the american people deserve to see that before everybody has the opportunity to cast their ballots onit november 5th. >> michael, you bring up the abortion ad that we just played on the air and i wonder if you can talknd a little bit about h the campaign is seeing that issue in terms of driving turnout and also what you have been hearing from constituents about the things donald trump said on that stage on tuesday night. >> yeah, i think what a lot of
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voters heard donald trump say was that what he has been saying out at the maga rallies for months now but hadn't necessarily said it in front of a mainstream audience. this is a guy who proudly takes credit for the role he played in overturning roe v. wade, appoinw ago majority of the justices that overturned roe. somebody who takes credit for the trump abortion bans playing outab in over 20 dates across t country. the impact that is having against not just simply abortion rates, the threats in alabama which is voting today. what they saw on the other side was the vice president who made very, very clear, a, who was responsible in donald trump, but b, how we get out of this, electing her andof making sure restore roe so that women can makeha their own choices about their bodies moving forward. this is a fundamental issue of freedom in america. what we are hearingm and what we've seen fromhe voters across the country is that this is not a partisan issue. i think it's regardless of ideology. you see women and americans understanding this as an issue
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of fundamental freedom. our dials we were running during the debate this was one of the most powerful voters among undecided voters in battleground states. we're going to make sure that they continue to see the exchange that took place on the debate stage on tuesday. >> i'm sure you are. let me ask you two events in north carolina, some people are scratching their heads and i'm sure there are some democrats out there worried about a more ambitious map. what do you say to people who are a little wary of going beyond the blue wall states and the strategy behind having not one but two events featuring the vice president today in north carolina. >> no, listen,vi we've been ver clear about our path to victory from the beginning this have campaign, it isin inclusive of blue wall states, michigan, wisconsin, pennsylvania, but also, inclusive of the sun bel states, out west, nevada and arizona in the southeast georgia and north hecarolina. that's why i think the vice president's travel coming off of this debate is reflective of that. she's in r charlotte, in
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greensboro in tetoday, in north carolina, tomorrow she's going to pennsylvania, johnstown, wilkes-barre, we're making sure when we go to battleground states we're making sure we touch every single part of the state. tomorrow we are not simply spending time in philadelphia and pittsburgh which we travel to often and will continue to do so, but we're making sure that we're tapping into other parts of the state that democrats haven'tta traditionally campaigd in. the same thing in georgia on the bus a tour. this is the first democratic campaign in 30 years since bill clinton to campaign in southeast georgia. we're going to do more of that tomorrow, will keep doing it in the weeks to come because this is a margin of error race, that was the race before the debate, that's going to be the case after the debate and for us margin of error comes down to margin of effort. you're going to see vice president harris, governor walz, this entire campaign at rat tus kick into high gear to make sure we communicate with every single vote that will determine the 270 electoral votes. >> margin of error being turned into margin of effort. okay. michael tyler, communications
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director for the harris/walz campaign, thanks for your time. really appreciate thit. >> thanks for havingti me. we have a lot more coming up tonight including the one issue that could decide the election according to the "new york times" polling expert, stay tuned to find out what it is. plus, how kamala harris can fight and win that battle of inches that will be fought over thee next 54 days. we will get thoughts from two democratic strategists coming right up next. rom two democratic strategists coming right up next.
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ours will be a very tight race until the end. okay? it's going to be a tight race until the end, and we are the underdog. understand that. we are the underdog. but i say all that to say we've got some hard work ahead of us, but here is the thing i love about everybody here, we love hard work. hard work is good work. hard work is good work. hard work is good work.
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>> that was vice president kamala harris in north carolina today riding that post-debate momentum but also reminder vote thaers this is going to be a close race with at that whole lot of work to be done. the harris/walz campaign schedule on that note is packed. the self-proclaimed underdogs have appearances planned in wilkes-barre, pennsylvania, grand rapids, michigan, with a saw, wisconsin, i'm hope i'm saying that right and that just takes us through saturday. joining me now is ben wickler -- ben, you were nodding when i saw wasaw. i have family in wisconsin, too. i'd love to get your thoughts on these three issues emerging as strategy points for the harris campaign and what your thoughts are. the first is this idea that vice president harris is a candidate of change. there is a ad they took out,
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came out yesterday night and it's basically contrasting donald trump as someone preoccupied with an america of ore, a yark vision, retro grade vision and harris as an avatar of tomorrow. it's a hard place to make when you are the incumbent vice president that you are a candidate of change, but, you know, the ad is convincing. i wonder how much of an uphill climb you think that is for her. >> i think it's very clear, in fact, and i think that moment in the debate where she said i'm not joe biden, i'm obviously not donald trump, but i can offer a new generation of leadership, it was -- it was saying what was very obvious when you looked at the stage. someone pointed out it's been since 1976 that we haven't had a presidential election that didn't have a clinton, a biden, a bush or trump on the ballot. >> yeah. >> or just clinton, biden -- it's wild to think how relatively static the cast of characters of american politics
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has been for a long time and kamala harris is new in that bigger sense. not new just relative to the last few years, but to the last generation, really the whole history of the country and she's bringing a new energy and a new kind of -- a new joy that does feel materially different. it was a choice between, you know, the sort of sense of dread and disaster, both sides describing how awful things would be under the other side for years now, going back since 2016 and 2020, and now there's this real sense of just a palpable relief and laughing and dancing and it's a new day, a genuinely new day. wisconsin's motto, by the way, is forward. >> very on brand for your state. >> yes. >> what do you think of the idea that harris is at once sort of touting the achievements of the biden presidency, the biden administration which she's an integral part of, and also suggesting that she is the page turner in american history, which of course her candidacy represents in terms of gender and race, but in terms of
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politics, do you think it's a hard hill to climb? >> well, first of all, alex, i'm speaking to you from wisconsin, i've been running around racine, ben's favorite state and talking to local unions about the issues that are most important to them. i agree about the newness and how it works at her advantage, rather be kamala harris than donald trump at this juncture of the race. i think she's very well-positioned and hillary clinton at this point in the race was similarly polling at a very strong position. so to harris' point think as an underdog, know there is hard work to do and convincing for the late deciders. that newness you have been referencing is an advantage and the suggestion of the hard work that needs to be done because it means that somebody who is new you need to kind of affirm for people who know less about you what drives you, why do you want power? why do you want the government's authority in your hands? what do you want to do with it? for me and a lot of people
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running around in wisconsin feel that economic issues are at the top of the mind and to use that government power to say i want to take on what i see as exploitation abuse of big government over workers, over consumers, i want businesses to thrive, i want profits shored but i want for working people. >> she's certainly -- you know, i think her rockiest answer in the debate was when she was talking about the economy but she clearly has a story she wants to tell about her upbringing how she understands the concerns and needs of you the voters, but she's not -- i mean, she's not just -- whether or not the economy is the single most important issue in in race, they are employ a multiprong strategy here. there's something the campaign is doing around foreign policy that i think is super interesting, ben. they're using the war in ukraine as a touch point to speak with undecided voters, swing voters, who may have eastern european
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roots and understand she talked about this in the debate, you know, whether or not vladimir putin runs roughshod over europe will matter a lot to the 800,000 polish americans in the a state of pennsylvania because in ukraine is gone poland is knicks. they're running ads in pennsylvania, will run them in michigan and wisconsin as well. do you think that can be a successful strategy in getting people interested and excited. >> i think it's one piece of a successful strategy for her. f aichlt z is right, for voters cynical about politics they know how much they're paying for groceries and want a government on the side of working people and against price gougers and against bosses that are trying not to pay overtime and fire people trying to form unions. with foreign policy they want -- they don't want a government that is just letting the country where they came from get overrun by russia. my own family the wikler family is outside of ukraine and has been under many sflags at
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different times and there are so many wisconsinites, so much polish wisconsinites, several margins of victory of ukrainian wisconsinites. biden won wisconsin by 20,682 votes so you don't need a huge community, as long as you have something that connects in a deep way the same reproductive freedom and others do. this issue is profound for home who feel a connection to the countries their families emigrated from. trump is manifestly on the wrong side when it comes to the question of whether you should allow russia to invade and occupy other countries. >> faiz, the granular nature of this campaign, every choice is a very specific choice they make, they're talking about change, talk being abortion, talk being ukraine in a way that's resonant to the swing state voters they need to get to. from a campaign perspective how much targeted information do you think they possess and are ready
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to deploy to get to these literally tens of thousands of voters who are going to decide the election? >> that's an even better request he for ben because i'm talked to his organizers in the state and each one will hand you a walk packet if you want to canvas doors and in that walk packet you will know a lot about the demographics, income levels, where people are at, how they voted in the past, what are the issues of concern to them. so there is that level of knowledge not only in wisconsin, michigan, pennsylvania, all the key battle grounds, all those state offices that you mentioned early in the program, alex s what they're doing. i think while you can walk and chew gum at the same time, a lot of the things you're talking about, microtargeting of ads and pieces of content, here is a one pager on ukraine, that helps, but i also want to pull us back and say not the whole election is going to be won by a micro, you also need a macro affirmation of what your values are that speak to the widest number of people, bring the widest number of people into your campaign. i don't want to lose sight of
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getting so micro that you are not talking about the number one thing for many undecided voters, that's where i'm focused the persuasion of the last bit, the economic concerns i keep hearing over and over. it's not just an economic story it's tying it to what are your values. for harris to drive a contrast. that guy who was elon musk, loves billionaires, loves to sit with crypto billionaires and oil billionaires. this is who i fight for, why i care and to see that same pacs come out on that issue like abortion it would be great. >> she's doing the micro and the macro. ben, quickly, they are awash in money in the harris campaign. how much does money matter at this point? or is it more a matter of, you know, the foot soldiers getting out there and knocking on doors? >> it's an all of the above moment. i want to stress, though, it is absolutely worth donating directly to the harris campaign and to down ballot democrats. if you look in the state legislature, if you support the wisconsin assembly and state senate democrats, other states
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like arizona one seat in each chamber, north carolina one seat to break the republican super majority. those races are often starved for funds. it is worth supporting top of the ticket, also senate and house and state legislative races. all of that work and using those funds to make sure we reach the voters who are paying the least attention to politics, to didn't watch the debate. it's when we connect with those folks and the things they're facing in their lives that's win we win at the margin and even potentially win by more than a fraction of a percent that the elections come down to. >> a fraction of a percent, nobody is looking forward to one of those. >> we will take it if we get it. >> ben wikler, the person that came up with the phrase, let's turn a margin of error into a margin of effort. >> i think i probably heard it somewhere because it's so good. everyone should have i margin of effort, margin of effort, let's put in the work. >> ben wikler and faiz shakira,
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thank you for your time and expertise. still to come this evening the department of homeland security is focused on january 6, 2025. we will have more on the planning for the next january 6 coming up. but first, what are undecided voters waiting for? no, really, what are they waiting for. "the new york times" polling guru joins me coming up next. "the new york times" polling guru joins me coming up next
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live the polls. okay. that's a reminder, in 2012 barack obama outperformed the polls, but in 2016 and 2020 polls underestimated support for donald trump. and in the 2022 midterms democrats exceeded polling expectations almost across the board. so what are the polls saying now? have they gotten any better at polling, those polls. kamala harris holds a slim lead in wisconsin, michigan, north carolina and pennsylvania, ranging from just one to just three points, all of which is well within the margin of error. kamala harris is died with donald trump in nevada, georgia and arizona. joining me now is ruth igelnik polling editor for "the new york times" whose primary responsibility is working on one of the largest and most polling
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polls in the country "the new york times" siena college polls. ruth's, i was saying to you during the break you must be the most popular/least popular person in your circle of friends. >> depends on the findings. >> prepare us all here, the scuttlebutt in polling circles is that this election may be even tighter than 2020. let me remind everybody at home donald trump won in 2016 thanks to 77,744 votes in three states. in 2020 biden won thanks to 81,000 approximately votes across four states. are we looking at tighter numbers for this? >> much tighter. >> much tighter? >> yeah, it's going to be a tight race. >> tighter than 81,000 votes in four states? >> yeah. >> that's terrifying. can we talk a little bit about what that practically means? when you're talking about undecided voters, for example, are there trueisms about what that group of people looks like across these battleground states? >> this year, yes.
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compared to historical undecided voters the group is a little bit different this year but there is a sort of truism across states this year which is that we're talking about younger voters, nonwhite voters, black and latino voters. that's pretty consistent across states. >> beyond being decided is it they care generally about certain issues over the other and they are not hearing those issues? they are not paying attention to the ins and outs of the political cycles? what can you tell us about their behaviors? >> generally lower information voters, polarized voters that already have views they compare deeply about the economy, the economy is issue number one above everything else. >> what does that mean when we say the economy? is it taxes? is it inflation? is it wages? like what is it? >> we mostly hear about inflation but i think it depends. inflation is the big thing. people are feeling that burn at the grocery store, the gas pump and they want a candidate that will answer that for them. >> can you talk to me a little
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bit about the margins that we are talking about in these particular states? it will be either alarming or interesting to people that at this -- this day, september 12th in the year 2020, joe biden was running ahead of donald trump in pennsylvania by five points. okay? today, this day in the year 2024, the present, kamala harris is ahead by one point. what does that mean? like how many votes is that that we are talking about? if it was already so close at a five-point spread, a one-point spread -- >> quite slim. it's going to be a handful of counties that matter and a handful of votes in those counties. it's really going to be slim. the pool of undecided voters is a lot smaller than it has been in the past. >> because these voters are people that are not necessarily paying attention, i know this is a huge broad question, but is the way to reach them anecdotally, i'm not going to ask -- are they paying attention -- is word-of-mouth -- does word-of-mouth matter with an undecided?
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>> it's hard to know but because they're younger we're seeing on social media. >> memes. >> campaigns are trying to reach people through social media. it is friends and word-of-mouth, that's often how politics are done. people talking to friends and knowing who their friends are supporting. >> how good are the polls, ruth? i know i'm talking to someone who has a vested interest them being good and you guys are the gold standard here, but have the predictions gotten better or not the predictions the snapshots in time? >> thank you. yes. i appreciate that. not predictions. >> have they gotten more accurate do you think? >> you know, i mean, it's hard to say. every year we do everything we can and we've done a lot of work to try to improve on, you know, issues that we had in previous years, but there's a lot of reason to believe that the polls are pretty accurate. in 2022 i know in the year you were talk being polls being off but if you look at times/sienna polls, for example, we were nearly accurate within one or two points of every race we
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polled. our hope is we're doing a lot of extra effort to make sure we're reaching voters who are low information voters but do vote. on the other hand i will say polls are kind of a big blunt instrument that aren't great at figuring out this very narrow margin. you know, i mean, polls are great at telling us that 60 to 70% of americans support abortion. polls are great at telling us these kind of broad-brush issues but on these really tight races on states that are decided by a handful of votes, polls aren't necessarily perfect at that. they are the best thing we have and we do our best with them but that's a limitation we struggle with. >> i would assume that accounts for the fact that they haven't really moved, right, these big tent pole events and you are not seeing a big shift in the numbers because it literally is not a battle for inches but i will millimeters. ruth igelnik from "the new york times," the most popular person, the least popular person, we don't know what you're going to be in your circle of friends but we deeply appreciate the work you're putting in tonight. >> thanks for having me. coming up, the man who
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keeps debris out of your gutters for good. parenthood is such a wild ride. it's a lot easier with leaffilter. join millions of satisfied homeowners. call 833 leaffilter today or visit leaffilter.com today the department of homeland security made a big announcement about january 6th, 2025. today the department of homeland security designated congress' certification of electoral votes
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which happens on january 6, 2025, a they designated that a national special security event. that means a routine bit of congressional business is now going to have the same level of secret service protection as presidential inaugurations and the super bowl. and here is how house speaker mike johnson responded to that news. >> and what do you think of january 6th being designated now as a national security event? do you think that's necessary? >> i don't even -- i didn't even hear that that happened? who did that? >> dhs designated it as a national security event. >> sounds like politics to me. >> sounds like politics to me. joining me now is susan glasser, staff writer at the new yorker. susan, thank you for being here. i know you know this, but, you know, mike johnson was one of the ring leaders of the 2020 january 6th plot. marc elias calls him other than donald trump arguably the most
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culpable federal elected official in what happened that day. what do you make of his reaction to designating the certification a national security event. >> well, you know, alex, it was striking to hear him say i think it sounds like politics because of course it was trump and his allies on capitol hill, such as congressman johnson, who turned an event like that into politics that is really a ministerial constitutional function of the government and, you know, it's really so striking because we're once again four years later in an election in which the candidate for president of the united states from the republican party is already attacking and undermining the basis on which the election will occur, saying that there are going to be questions about it, that it's going to be fraudulent, that it's going to be unfair and of course calling upon his allies on capitol hill to support him in whatever
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claims he makes. i mean, that's the amazing thing, imagine calling an election rigged before it has even taken the place, that's the situation that we find ourselves in again. you know, i don't know if it will be january 6 or it will be some other way in which trump chooses to attack our undermine the legitimacy of the election if he loses it again, but i think there's a very real basis for those concerns. >> if you are paying attention to the sort of signals that are being given, whether by the department of homeland security or by the attorney general, i feel like a normal person thinks i'm a little worried about what happens this election season. today merrick garland, not known to be a public alarmist, gave really unusual remarks to.department of justice staff today where he called out attacks on prosecutors and doj personnel and talked about conspiracy theories and just warned the public and obviously his staff that this was very dangerous and the environment was very, very threatening to
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the integrity and the safety of the department of justice and its employees. he didn't name trump by name, but i mean, it is, susan, correct me if i'm wrong, very unusual to have someone like merrick garland saying that 54 days before an election. >> there is no question of course this is something, you know that is correct we really haven't seen before. merrick garland as you said is a very you cautious open initial not given to inflammatory statements. i thought that speech was quite remarkable and it's very consistent of course with trump being very clear about wanting to use, you know, essentially to attack the institutions that are set up to safeguard the democracy. i was very struck, it didn't get as much attention probably understandably given all the incoherent and inflammatory things trump said in that debate the other night but i will point out that he was asked about january 6, he was asked about his election lies and he chose to double down on them in the debate the other night. he said not only that the election had been rigged and stolen from him, but that he
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continues to say that he's going to pardon the january 6th insurrectionists and he calls them, as you know, repeated in his rallies he calls them essentially martyrs to the cause of donald trump. and that's the side that he's taken on. i noticed that kamala harris made a point of saying how many police officers were injured on january 6, 2021 and, you know, pointing out that donald trump claims to be someone who backs law enforcement, who is anti-crime, but i just -- i think that in this election season we're going to see more and more escalation the closer it gets to the election itself because trump is actively engaged in a campaign of undermining the legitimacy of an election that he might lose again. >> yeah, he's already saying today on the campaign trail i think we're going to win very big and as long as it's an honest election i will absolutely accept the results. upshot is that he's not in the
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presidency right now, down side that mike johnson is now the speaker of the house. susan glasser, always good to see you, my friend. thanks for your time tonight. >> thank you. still ahead this evening, donald trump and j.d. vance are enjoying spreading the big lie about cats, but it's coming at a real cost in the town of springfield, ohio, where haitian migrants tell nbc news' yamiche alcindor that they now fear for their lives. i'll talk to yamiche about that coming up next. i'll talk to yamiche about that coming up next ahhhh... with flonase, allergies don't have to be scary spraying flonase daily gives you long-lasting, non-drowsy relief. (psst psst) flonase. all good.
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illegal haitian migrants taking over a beautiful place. migrants are walking off with the town's geese, they're taking the geese. and even walking off with their pets. my dog has been taken. my dog has been stolen. >> if we have to meme about it to get the media to care we're going to keep on doing it. >> all week j.d. vance and donald trump have engaged in their sort of joyful bigotry pushes the lie that haitian immigrants legally living in springfield, ohio, are eating cats, dogs and geese. they have spent the week meming about it. chris rough foe are hunting for proof and offering a $5,000 bounty for evidence of haitian cat consumption. but this merry racism is causing real harm as racism often does.
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today the springfield police department reported bomb threats to multiple government buildings prompting evacuations and closures of city and school buildings and many haitians in springfield say they now fear for their lives. joining me now is yamiche alcindor, nbc news washington correspondent who is just back from springfield where she spoke to haitian immigrants about the lies republicans are spreading about them. yamiche, thanks for joining me. what are they saying to you? how do they feel about this? >> well, haitian immigrants really are heartbroken and shocked about what's going on. i talked to one haitian man who immigrated a few months ago, too scared to go on cam ration but told me that really he's feeling retraumatized because he already left haiti, fleeing gang violence, fleeing insecurity, he didn't want to leave but he had to leave he felt like, and then he came legally -- legally to springfield, ohio, and is now working a construction job but his co-workers are now
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repeatedly asking him if he eats cats. he feels depressed, feels so sad about this situation and has some friends that are telling him that they might leave springfield and leave the idea of the american dream they were hoping to live here. so it really is in some ways very heart breaking and really a tough situation and the tension there was so palpable, alex. >> did they have -- i mean, did they have a response to trump who is on this, continues to do it like hours ago, keeps talk about this despite the fact there is no basis in truth. do they have words for donald trump? >> yes, a number of haitian immigrants told me that they see former president donald trump and j.d. vance as really pushing racist and xenophobic language towards them, baseless claims, unfounded allegations, they see them really as putting their lives at risk with some not want to go leave their houses, one woman kept her children home from school because she was worried they may be targeted. they see them as people trying to do harm to haitian
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immigrants. one person told me that he sees this as the continuation of a long line of attacks because former president trump years ago said that haitians were bringing hiv/aids to this country which of course is a false claim. he also has called haiti an s-hole country. they're seeing this as him continuing to beat down haitian immigrants. he have e. he's done that to a number of other immigrants, he's called mexicans rapists. they also think he might be trying to get other people in ohio to believe this and then be motivated to go to the polls. i talked to one man who saw some of these baseless claims as credible and told he feels like springfield will be lost because it will be overrun in his mind with haitians. there are some who say maybe it will be a haitian community much like there are other communities, irish and german communities, but he says he's hoping, this man, that other communities are watching and that they stop haitian immigrants and other immigrants from coming to their town. there is also this idea that
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they're hoping many people in pennsylvania and michigan that they feel mobilized by thighs baseless claims and that it helps donald trump be elected. >> i mean, i would assume just from some of the videos that i've seen that the community around the haitians is incensed also about the lies that are being spread about springfield. did you get a sense that have while you were there? >> i got a very clear sense of that. i talked to a number of people who weren't haitian immigrants, long-time residents of springfield, ohio, who say they were welcome to go haitian immigrants because, one, they were come interesting and are coming there legally through tps and a number of federal programs targeting immigrants fleeing violence and insecurity but also springfield for years was losing its population, businesses and groceries were closing and now they've seen a revitalization. the people who want the haitian immigrants there say that's part of the reason why they wanted that and the city i should note advertised new manufacturing jobs and also advertise td it as
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an affordable place to live which is why they were trying to welcome the haitian immigrants. they were enticed to come there and they're also confused because this whole thing about abuse and pets it seems to have started because of an unrelated case in a different part of ohio involving a u.s. citizen who was arrested over a gruesome incident involving a cat, but that had nothing to do with springfield, ohio, and nothing to do with haitians as well. >> wow. and, you know, they gleefully continue to spread the lies in public forums. yamiche alcindor, thanks for that reporting. it's really important to have this perspective and the real truth of what this, you know, spreading rot does to a group of people who are just trying to make it in america. thanks for your time tonight. that is our show for this evening. "way too early" with jonathan lemire is coming up next. " with lemire is coming up next and lindsey davis sa
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